Susan Boyle and The Phenomenon of All Your Wildest Dreams Come True (or so you think)

i was one of those who watched susan boyle's initial audition and like many people in britain and pretty much all over the world, wept buckets for her and silently prayed she would win the top prize.

she was crowned first runner-up but actually ended up the big winner. youtube virtually guaranteed she would.

overnight, this woman who previously lived alone with her cat in a small scottish village, outsold rihanna, shakira and adam lambert. those glossed up, writhing, rude boy, glambert people didn't hold a candle to this woman who even with the best makeover teams on both sides of the atlantic still managed to look like your everyday aged, spinster auntie, albeit a much more glam version.

even elaine paige, whom susan boyle idolized, could only throw a hissy fit about susan's success, calling her 'a virus'. this brought on no doubt by the green monster. susan after all, has achieved what most emerging british artists dream about, which is to break america and boy, break it she did. sorry elaine paige - i don't ever recall your name being mentioned while i was in america nor did my american relatives ever mention knowing you. they do know about susan boyle though.

susan boyle's 'i dreamed the dream' has become officially, the fastest selling launch album of ANY female artist. take that lady gaga.

i think every single artist who launched their album at the same time susan did are continually scratching their heads as to how this woman outsold them all.

i think the formula is simple - everyday in every part of the world, there are millions upon millions of us living lives like the one susan had before she stepped out of the house to audition. millions of us, who live like zombies, wake up, go to work, go home, go to sleep and wake up to the same boring humdrum life. during our most lucid moments, the occasional thought hits us 'is this the rest of how my life is going to be?' which strikes momentary fear into our hearts. however, the more anesthetized of us manage to push this question away and fall back into the same life simply because it is easier.

this was susan boyle for 47 years. alone in a little village in scotland with only her cat. that was her life and it certainly looked like it was going to be that way.

however, one day, one of us sleeping millions, will just suddenly decide, we are tired of asking 'is this how the rest of my life going to play out?'

and just like susan, she decided, what the heck, i'm going out to audition. and voila - destiny intervened and with the almighty power of the internet her life changed in a heartbeat.

susan represents all those sleeping millions who still one day hope that, by some lucky stroke of fate, prayer or even freak coincidence, their boring lives will one day too change overnight. one day, they will wake up and find that all their wildest dreams have all come true.

but in the case of susan boyle, instant fame meant heartaches she couldn't have ever anticipated like paparazzi intrusion. gossip about her psychological meltdowns have been rife and i do believe she is still waiting for her first kiss.

all your wildest dreams come true or so you think.....

granted, i don't think susan ever regrets having stepped out of her house to audition that day. meltdowns and waiting for your first kiss to still happen are considerably softened by a few million pounds in the bank. like my aunt always used to say 'you know whats worse than being miserable? its being miserable WITHOUT money'

perhaps though every now and then, she thinks, 'i thought this was all my dreams come true...but i guess not quite...but it's still a heck of a LOT better than my previous one...HARHARHAR take that elaine paige' (cue paparazzi flashbulbs leading to psychological meltdown at this point).

i'm a full believer in chasing dreams and never compromising what we have always wished for ourselves. even if what we want for ourselves changes every now and then. and i don't believe in any way that susan boyle is a cautionary tale of 'be careful of what you wish for'.

i believe you should go on the roller coaster ride that is your dream but be prepared to occasionally be sick and for the possibility to even vomit your guts out when the ride is over.
at the end of the day, i've found that sometimes the prize isn't necessarily the goal you set out to achieve - the real prize is having the balls to have done it anyway such that reaching the goal only becomes the icing on the cake.

that's why there's only one susan boyle. that woman had the balls to say, 'ok i'm sick of this being my life - i'm going out there to audition knowing full well I will be jeered at and ridiculed but what the heck? people already ridicule my life anyway so here goes nothing'.

what's the line? be afraid but go ahead anyway.

i heart susan boyle still..

now....who in the world won britain's got talent again last year and where the heck are they? just asking..........